Henri Moissan Prize

The prize was created after the Centennial 1986 Paris Symposium to commemorate Moissan's isolation of elemental fluorine in 1886, and to stimulate research in the fields of fluorine chemistry.

During twenty years, the prize has been managed by the "Institution du Prix Moissan", founded by Paul Hagenmuller and Pierre Plurien both Chairmen of the 1986 Symposium, with Roland Bougon as administrator. During this period the prize was attributed seven times, that is every three years at the opportunity of the International Symposia on Fluorine Chemistry (ISFC). From 2009 the "Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie" has taken in charge the management of the prize, in order to give a perennial structure to this prestigious award.

The prize winner is elected by an International Selection Board of about seventy personalities (+ scientific committee members) which have been chosen by the scientific committee of the prize. The composition of this international college is reconsidered before each Prize. The final choice of the Board members should be guided by both the prestige of each fluorine chemist proposed and the need to establish a balance with respect to nationality and scientific fields. The members of the Board are asked to vote as individuals.

In the first ballot of the election, each member of the Selection Committee proposes a maximum of five candidates. The Scientific Committee will select the nominees for the Prize, as those candidates who have received the higher number of votes with a significant gap with respect to the following ones. This list (four names in 2000, six in 2003 and four in 2006) is then sent to all members of the Selection Board for a second ballot, in which a maximum of two names is selected from this list. It is obvious that those members who will be selected as nominees will not take part to the second ballot. The winner is the candidate who receives the largest number of suffrages, but the prize may be shared if two candidates get an equal number of votes, as it was the case for the first prize in 1988. Nominations can be based on the candidate's entire career work or a recent outstanding contribution to any field of fluorine chemistry.

The Prize, which is presented every three years during the International Symposium on Fluorine Chemistry (ISFC), carries a diploma and a monetary award of 15 000 €.